LogFAQs > #946189383

46. The Evil Within 2 (Game) (18.5 points)
Nominated by: Murphiroth (1/5 remaining)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7JbFBq4NAo

Importance: 3
Fear: 6.5
Snake: 9

With The Evil Within, it was finally Shinji Mikami's chance to return to the horror genre and correct, so to speak, the sins of his own creation, Resident Evil 4 by making survival horror, well, itself again. Results were mixed. While I personally loved the game and think it's one of the best of the decade, unfortunate letterboxing, sticking too close to the template laid down by RE4 (ironically), and an overly mind-bending plot caused even some to mark it as irredeemably awful. Yet, sales were still decent enough to net a sequel: The Evil Within 2. An absolutely remarkable upgrade in almost every way, this felt like the survival horror classic Mikami was just in reach of making. Though he was only producer/supervisor on this one, the groundwork he laid in TEW1 transformed itself into a sprawling open-world nightmare, with much stronger characters, and a reworking of its combat for a smoother blend of stealth and action. Leave your RE4 comparisons at the door, TEW2 has definitively become its own beast now, featuring a compelling loop of exploration scavenging, stealth that threatens to go wrong at any second, and much more horrifically frightening enemies and set-pieces that will constantly leave your jaw dropping. In particular, there's a greater emphasis placed on the crossbow and its use as a stealth Swiss-army knife, with potential for trap planning and enemy prediction. All in all, it's a much deeper and more satisfying system than the more blunt-forced approach of the first game.

What else makes this game better though? The storyline and characters. It's much easier to follow this time, and though it is kind of a rip off of Silent Hill, making STEM this sort of purgatory of symbolism and therapeutic release for Sebastian, it at least makes since STEM is the direct consciousness of the user after all. And hey, if you're going to copy, might as well do it from the best. Basically, Sebastian's daughter Lily died in a house fire, and he is told she is still alive and in STEM. He's taken against his will and put into STEM, which is simulating a typical United States town known as Union. Its here that the game's initial primary villain, Stefano, dominates the proceedings. I can best describe him as the Joker if he was a pupil of Mark Jefferson and became a snooty photography major, but he's got so much more depth than that too. He was a war photographer who lost his eye the exact moment he caught on film the visage of an exploding man, causing a descent into insanity and obsession with capturing people at the very moment they cease to be. During his boss fight, he will try to capture you on film and slow you down long enough to frame your death in the artistic way he so desperately desires. With him is the Obscura, a camera-headed abomination he crafted out of the remaining corpses of his victims. This stand out creature will stalk and hunt you through several chapters of the game, its image invoking the provocative nature of Hans Bellmer's mannequins but squarely attached to Stefano's distorted sense of artistic merit. After Stefano's exit, I do think the game becomes a little weaker, he really could've been the main antagonist, but I also enjoy the Harbinger, the corrupted alter ego of one your own long time allies, and Anima, the game's Japanese influenced long-haired ghost, always a welcome, creepy addition to the game's events. I won't spoil the final boss, but rest assured it has an incredibly awesome design that ties well into some of the game's more weirdly sterile and pure white areas.

It's not a perfect sequel though. In general, the town of Union is forgettable, and I struggle to remember locations in this game besides some of Stefano's arenas and endgame locales. The Evil Within 1 had so much awesome Gothic architecture and village, the disgusting, unholy bile of an insane asylum slaughter house, your serene save haven tended to by the lovely Tatiana (she's just as lovely in TEW2, don't get me wrong), a Resi-style mansion, a creepy ass mannequin factory, what happened with Evil Within 2? Graphics appear to be downgraded at least to me, and honestly a lot of the fear factor was lost here, due to everything just feeling so similar to each other and way too clean. An easier to follow story also did not equal a better story for me either. The first game was like simulating the complexity of losing one's mind, a perplexing maze of torment, tragedy, and sinful trepidation, and playing it during a time when I was actually depressed and feeling totally directionless in my own life hit so symbiotically with me. The Evil Within 2 lacks that psychological edge that made the story stronger than just the summation of its plot.

Still I can't deny The Evil Within 2 is the better game. It's a lot more enjoyable to play, the psychological horror was traded off for a downright iconic (or he should be) antagonist, the score is amazing yet again, and newer players will be able to jump into this one without much of a problem. If you slept on this game, and let's face it, you probably did, give it a shot, because it's a modern day survival horror classic with new and old sensibilities that was finally able to say it truly stood shoulders, and maybe, even surpassed its distant relative, Resident Evil.

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Bare feet on the tile with my head up in the clouds
https://imgur.com/1e1e70S